


kindred spirits

by Daenys the Dreamer (lovely_ericas)



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Gen, House Lannister, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:07:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23671291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovely_ericas/pseuds/Daenys%20the%20Dreamer
Summary: Two misfits of House Lannister
Relationships: Tyrion Lannister & Joy Hill
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	kindred spirits

**Author's Note:**

> for Lauren

Tyrion was sitting in the Stone Garden, safely he thought, when he heard running feet and a voice calling for Joy.

The girl in question rounded the bend in the next moment and she and the hound at her heels came racing towards him.

Shoeless, honey colored hair spilling across her shoulders and stuck to her sweaty forehead, Joy looked more like a child of the smallfolk than a niece of Tywin Lannister.

“Please, Cousin Tyrion!” She gasped, whispering. “Don’t tell her I’m here! Please!”

The voice came again, louder and more insistent. “JOY!!! JOY HILL, I KNOW YOU’RE THERE, YOUNG LADY, YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!!!”

Joy looked up at him, imploring, and her dog did too. Tyrion sighed. He’d wanted to be somewhere quiet and out of sight of his father. So much for that wish.

He waved his hand at Joy who flew at once behind the stone lion and crouched down low. 

Tyrion pulled his book back across his lap and turned a page.

“OH, I WILL PUT YOU OVER MY KNEE-” The enraged voice ranted and then a middle aged woman found herself in the Stone Garden looking right at Tyrion Lannister and her voice left her.

Tyrion looked up. “I believe I’m a bit old for such a thing,” he quipped, “despite my size, Mistress Lark. Though perhaps you would like to try it anyway.”

“I-I, no, no, no, my lord Tyrion.” She flushed and bent a curtsy. “It’s that charge of mine, Joy. She’s hiding from me and I would have sworn she’d come this way.” Her eyes darted around.

“No,” Tyrion said. “You’re the first to disrupt me.”

The nurse flushed again, mumbled another apology, and fled.

“You can come out now.” He told Joy.

His cousin emerged from behind the frozen lion, clutching her dog in her arms.

Tyrion expected her to leave. Instead she climbed up on the bench beside him and peered over his arm at his book.

“What are you reading?” She asked.

“ _ Wonders Made By Man _ .” Tyrion replied, wondering whether Joy would expect further explanation and why she was interested.

Joy swung her legs back and forth. Her hound stood on the bench beside her, tongue lolling, and panting.

Tyrion waited for her to speak again but she didn’t so he asked, “Would she really have put you over her knee?”

“Nurse?” Joy shook her head. “I do not think so. She doesn't like to beat me.”

Tyrion closed his book. “Why were you hiding them? Why are you not playing with the other children?”

Joy’s mouth tightened and there was suddenly a passing resemblance to Tyrion’s sister.

Joy clenched her fists. “They say I can’t play because I’m a bastard.”

All dwarfs are bastards in their father's eyes, Tyrion thought.

“Your nurse? Your father selected her?” He asked.

Joy shrugged. “Perhaps. More likely it was Aunt Genna’s doing.”

Tyrion frowned. “Your father would not have gone away without ensuring you were well provided for.”

How many times had Tyrion wished Uncle Gerion were his father? Too many to count.

Joy shrugged again and pulled a ball from a pocket in her dress. The dog locked eyes on it and vibrated with excitement.

Joy threw the ball. The pup leaped from the bench and raced after it.

“Everyone presumes to think they know what my father would do. I suppose they know better than I do which is true since I don’t remember him. What kind of father leaves behind his motherless infant to go on a fool’s journey?” Joy said, looking at him. 

Her dog raced back, dropping the ball in her lap. Joy held it and then threw it again.

Tyrion wasn't sure what to say. He wasn’t used to feeling anyone was like him. Joy was no dwarf and her father had not hated her but perhaps she was near as wretched as him. Gerion had loved his daughter, Tyrion was certain, but the fact would make no difference to the daughter who couldn’t recall him.

“What is your pup’s name?” He asked, instead.

Joy gave him a look and then she said, “Juniper.”

Tyrion nodded. “Would you like me to read to you from my book?” 

Joy nodded. She whistled for Juniper and the hound came running. She pocketed the ball and scooted closer.

Tyrion turned some pages and cleared his throat. He began to read about the aqueducts and roads of Valyria.

Joy scooted closer and laid her head on his shoulder. “Go on,” she mumbled.

Tyrion smiled and kept reading.


End file.
